The new juried show, “Fluid Patterns” at East End Arts’ gallery in Riverhead “began with a stark local fact,” according to the show’s organizers.
“East End Arts Council, a community gallery since 1977, must relocate due to rising flood risks. The gallery itself is now a canary in the coal mine — a symbol of shifting environmental conditions that affect communities around the globe.”
Pictured Above: Detail from Hurricane Force by Linda Byrne, 2024
As East End Arts prepares to move from its main gallery space on East Main Street, as its buildings are raised alongside the construction of the new Town Square, “Fluid Patterns” is the penultimate show before the arts non-profit’s campus is remade. We had a chance to have a look at this varied and fascinating show at its Nov. 1 opening.
The curators, artists Rainer Gross and Marta Baumiller, decided that one of the best ways to explore what this change will mean for the East End’s arts community is, of course, through their art.
“Who is better than artists to explore and interpret this urgent reality,” they said in their statement accompanying the show. “Here on the East End of Long Island, we are literally surrounded by water, an elemental force that shapes our identity and our landscape. Water is a universal concern, which may explain the strong response to this open call.”
The artists in the show felt passionately about the subject, presenting voluminous statements that fill a book at the entrance to the gallery.
“Across the planet, water is a symbol, a resource, a threat and a muse,” said the curators. “From reimagined icebergs and cast water forms to surrealist dreamscapes and lyrical seascapes, these artworks show us water’s beauty, its evolving nature, and our role in its patterns and cycles.”
In a first for East End Arts, the exhibition includes three different video works presented in projections on the walls of the back room of the gallery, including David Weiner’s “Changing Phases,” which injects hot wax into aquatic environments, David Andree’s “Land Harps,” which use moving water to produce music, Lucy Body-Wilson’s study of the wonder of microscopic marine life, Effervescent Pond and Eve Kaplan-Wallbrecht’s “Fluid Patterns 3”
Fluid Patterns is on view through Dec. 13 at East End Arts’ Andy Tarshis Gallery at 133 East Main Street in Riverhead. Find Out More.
The final show in the gallery space before the construction begins will be this winter’s Members Show, “In Motion.”
“Movement is both the inspiration and the metaphor for this year’s show, symbolizing not only artistic energy and transformation but also the exciting transition of East End Arts Council itself,” say the organizers of that show. Here’s More on how to get involved.
Lucy Body-Wilson’s Effervescent Pond
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